Rescuers again halt search for missing Cessna<\/p>\n
Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Majalengka, West Java<\/p>\n
A team searching for a downed Cessna on the slopes of Mount
\nCiremai in West Java, has denied earlier reports the plane and
\nits three occupants had been found and again called off the
\nsearch.<\/p>\n
The team first called off its nearly-two week search for the
\ntraining aircraft in Majalengka regency on Sunday but resumed the
\nsearch Monday after a villager claimed he had seen a propeller.<\/p>\n
National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) team coordinator
\nAgus Sukarno dismissed reports the plane and the bodies of its
\npilot and two cadets had been located in the hilly Sadarehe area.<\/p>\n
"What it true is that we have found a suspected location where
\nthe plane crashed. But after searching for three days ... we have
\ncontinued not to find the missing aircraft," Agus said.<\/p>\n
He said the rescuers could resume the mission if new
\ninformation came to light, adding that the further search was
\nleft to volunteers.<\/p>\n
"It is in line with Government Regulation No. 12\/2000," Agus
\nsaid without elaborating further.<\/p>\n
A similar denial was also made by Basarnas chairman Yayun
\nRiyanto, who said the rescuers, who had been hampered by bad
\nweather, were never told of the missing plane being found.<\/p>\n
"I need to make it clear that what I had said to you was that
\nwe only found a suspected location," he added.<\/p>\n
He said the suspected location was discovered after he
\nreceived information from Kuningan military command chief Lt.
\nCol. Harry Suharyanto and Cirebon Airport chief Dadang Ekasmana.<\/p>\n
"Based on the information, I then ordered the resumption of
\nthe search and rescue operation on Monday," Yayun said.<\/p>\n
Team member Edi Mulyadi, a flight engineer of national carrier
\nPT Garuda Indonesia, concurred, saying he strongly believed that
\nhe saw what seemed to be the plane's wreckage in the Sadarehe
\narea in Payung village.<\/p>\n
"I saw something white there, which resembled an airplane
\npropeller. My colleague in the search, Trisnandi, also saw a
\nsimilar thing," he told journalists on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The Deraya Flying School Cessna went missing on Feb. 7 on a
\nflight from Semarang, Central Java, to Jakarta. It was piloted by
\nBerti F. Nausina, 33, along with students Gagak Eskandaria, 21,
\nand Erwin Bunadir, 23.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/rescuers-again-halt-search-for-missing-cessna-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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